


Always You

by Peasantaries



Series: Short Stories [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Friends (TV) Fusion, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Pining Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4320309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peasantaries/pseuds/Peasantaries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on <em>Friends<em> S02E07: The One Where Ross Finds Out - Derek finally realises his feelings for Stiles, but is he too late?</em></em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Always You

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! Back so soon! I half wrote this as a scene from friends and abandoned it but decided to flesh it out a little and managed to actually post! I'll probably be posting a lot over the next couple of weeks/months so keep your eyes peeled!

"Oh my god." Derek murmurs as he sits down at the table with the group. "Oh. My god. What is wrong with me?"

Scott, Isaac, Erica and Lydia all hum.

Scott clasps his shoulder. Erica strokes his hair.

"How did this happen? A week ago, a few weeks ago, he was just - Stiles, you know? Stiles, one of my friends, and now, now he's ...  _Stiles,_ this really wonderful guy who I cannot. _Have."_

"I know man." Scott sympathises. "It sucks."

Derek straightens. "I'm just going to have to deal with it. Okay? I;ll deal with it. Everything will go back to the way it was, I can deal with this."

The group nod uneasily and just as he straightens his shoulders in determination, Stiles saunters over, leans across Derek and picks up an apple from the fruit basket, laughing on the phone.

"Aww, kochanie." He giggles highly. "Wait. You want me to? Right now? Oh." He blushes red and saunters away.

Derek stands so forcefully the chair scrapes. "I have to go." He strides across to the door quickly and leaves. The others watch him, glancing to each other.

*

"How are you doing?" Erica asks, a few days later when they're hanging at Scott's and Derek has sat sullenly for the past hour and a half.

"Alright." He shrugs, picking at his sleeve.

"That bad, huh?" She murmurs.

Derek frowns. "What?"

"I know guy speak for expressing emotions. That's basically 'crap'. But hey, you've not hit rock bottom yet." She tries.

"I thought I _had_ hit rock bottom, though, when I saw him getting off the plane with her." He says. "And now it's like, there's rock bottom, fifty feet of rubble and dirt, and then me." Derek states bluntly, gesturing with his hands.

"You have to tell him this!" Scott suddenly shouts, appearing around the corner.

"What about Malia?" Derek reminds him.

"What _about_ her?" Scott comes nearer. "They've been going out for like two weeks. Stiles has been in love with you for _ten years _."_ _

Derek pinches the bridge of his nose, his heart clenching in his chest at those words.

"I don't know. I just."

"Look." Scott starts. "I've dated women, okay, I know what I'm talking about. But none of them came _close_ \- not even by a mile, to how Stiles feels about you."

Derek swallows, his heart hammering. To think that Stiles - _but he's with someone else_ , Derek scolds himself, balling his hands. _He's dating somebody else._

And he's happy. He's so happy, he isn't miserable. Derek isn't making him miserable anymore, because Malia is making him happy. He never even knew Stiles was in love with him, and now.

Now, it's too late. He missed his chance. It's too late.

*

"We're getting a puppy." They proclaim happily to the whole group, one afternoon at the coffee shop.

Derek is working his shift, and he shouldn't be paying attention, but he still hears them make the announcement, coming up quietly behind them.

"That's great!" Isaac an Erica grin thinly as Stiles wraps an arm around Malia's middle and beams.

"A pup - a _puppy_?" He hears himself ask.

Stiles whips around and grins. "Yep."

"You're getting a puppy?"

"Uh - huh."

"Together?"

They both nod. The rest of the group are silent.

"Great!" He suddenly exclaims, and wipes his hands down on his apron just for something to do.

"I - well I better get back to - serving coffee!" He waves his hands up to gesture and then laughs, slightly hysterically as he realises he's holding nothing. "Might need - the coffee pot for that! So. I'll just. Okay." And makes a hasty retreat.  

*

"I'm going on a date." He starts resolutely, straightening his clothes.  

"A date?" Scott asks, aghast.

Derek straightens his shoulders underneath his good sweater, taking a breath. "Yes."

"But what about Stiles?"

"What _about_ him?" He snaps, then sags, suddenly exhausted. "They're getting a puppy together. It's not going to happen, Scott." He grits his teeth. "It was never going to happen."

Scott opens his mouth -

"Just." Derek stops him. "No. I'm just. I just can't."

Mercifully, Scott does nothing but stare, jaw tense, and let's Derek leave.

*

"How long do dogs live for?"

His date blinks, frowns. "Uh. I'm not sure." He's relatively attractive, nice hair, presentable.

Derek could like him.

"I mean." He starts. "On _average_ , how many years, would you say?"

"I think it's - ten, or fifteen. Maybe fifteen."

"Fifteen years?" He chokes.

"Yeah, why is this? Are you - ?"

Derek blinks. "Am I?" He slurs. He may have already had a few drinks. He lifts up his glass and finds it unexpectedly light, peers inside to find it empty. "Excuse - sorry, can I have a refill?"

The waitress complies, and he downs it in one.

"Um." His date says.

"So anyway." Derek places the glass down with a little more force than necessary. "Tell me about you."

"What do you want to know?"

"You're not a dog person, are you?" He starts again. "More of a cat person?"

"Uh." The guy blinks. _Danny_ \- Derek remembers, suddenly. "I'm not sure - "

"I mean a dog. Is a big commitment. To get a dog with someone. Would you buy a dog with someone?"

Danny looks lost. "I - maybe? It depends."

"Oh what?"

"If I - I suppose if I knew it was going to last."

Derek swallows, breathing hard, and feels as if something crumbles inside his chest.

"God." He covers his face with a hand.

"Oh God. Look at me. I'm on a date with this great guy, and all I keep thinking about is - _Stiles._ Stiles and his puppy, and his __Malia. _"___ He groans into his fist. "I just - God I just want to be _over him_ , I just want to get _over_ him. Why can't I get over him?"

Danny blows out a sigh. "Geesh." He sighs. "Look - I've been through a pretty serious break up, you're going to be fine. You just don't see it now because you haven't had closure - "

"Closure!" Derek sits up suddenly, pitching forward so fast he almost knocks the glasses over. "That's it! That's what I need - God, you're _brilliant. _"__ He hits a fist against the table.

Some people are beginning to look across.

"So how do I get it? What do I do?" He leans across in interest.

"There's no one way." Danny says, cheeks red from the pointed glances they're receiving. "I mean, it's just whatever it takes for you to stand up to him and say, 'I'm over you.'" he states, clearly, plainly.

Derek breathes in reverence. "Over you. _I'm_ over you. So simple." He starts glancing around wildly.

"Hello, uh, excuse me?" He asks a man, typing furiously on his phone. "Can I - can I borrow that for a moment?"

The man gives him an incredulous look.

"Just one minute - oops!" He slips a little as he waves an arm. "One minute. I'll even pay for the call myself."

The man doesn't move.

"Okay, you're being a little weird about your phone." He says, and looks at Danny with a raised eyebrow.

The guy huffs and hands it over forcefully. Derek gives Danny a significant look, who shakes his head in mortification.

He punches in the number. It rings out.

"Just waiting." He mouths to Danny.

He hears Stiles' unmistakable drone.

"Answering machine." He tells him again. "Need to wait for the beep."

Danny nods profusely.

"Stiles! Hi." He says. "Hello. It's _Derek_. I'm just calling to say that. That everything's - _fine."_ He grins sloppily, eyes glazed. "Everything is fine, and I'm - I'm really happy for you. And your _dog. _"__ He sneers, as then grins wide across the table. _ _"Who,__ by the way, I think you should name Danny." He smirks overtly, and pokes Danny on the shoulder. Danny shakes his head, but he grins back in something like fondness.

"I'm fine, you see, because I'm thinking up names, so obviously, I'm over you." He straightens. "I. Am over. _You."_ He says. "And that. My friend, is what they call:  _closure. _"__ He finishes, and throws the phone in the ice bucket, sitting back smugly.

Danny rushes to fish it out, wiping away the water and handing it back to the guy. Derek grins, head tossed back, feeling triumphant.

He should never have had that fifth glass of champagne.

*

His head is a pounding mass and every muscle in his body aches.

"Hey Der!" Stiles comes in cheerily.

He groans in response and receives a chuckle. "How was the date?"

"I think there was a restaurant." He frowns, considering. Stiles laughs. "I _know_ there was alcohol." He says strongly.

Stiles grins, shaking his head fondly, and says, "Okay well I'm meeting Malia downstairs but I think there are dog toys she left here and - why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry." Derek blinks hard. "I just - I think I had a dream about you."

Stiles frowns, even as the tips of his ears bleed red. "Oh - Kay."

Derek shakes his head. "Sorry." He stands to go to the bathroom, wanting to get cleaned up.

"Anyways I'll just - "

"Did I speak to you last night? Maybe on the phone?" He asks, still feeling uneasy.

"No I was with Malia. I've actually not checked my messages, can I do it just now?"

Derek waves a careless hand, stepping away.

"Hey, Derek, I have a message from you!" Stiles calls to him from the living room.

He's brushing his teeth with half lidded eyes, but when he says that, the words take a moment to register before he whips his head up, eyes wide in the bathroom mirror, and he rushes out.

"Stiles." He gargles at the doorway.

Stiles has the phone pressed to his ear, and he turns and frowns at Derek. "What - "

"No, no no." Derek clambers across the coffee table in his haste. "Give me the phone give me the phone give me the phone - " he's climbing across the couch and onto Stiles' shoulders before he even knows what he's doing, trying desperately to take the phone from his grasp.

"Stiles put the phone - put the phone down, hang up the phone _hang up thedamnphone_ \- "

The phone falls away from Stiles' lifeless hand and then there's a moment where they just breathe, Derek hanging onto him, Stiles stock frozen.

"You're - you're over me?" Stiles' voice is fractured oddly, confused and wrong. "You're over me."

Derek doesn't say anything.

"When were you. I mean when were you. Under me?" Stiles is dumbfounded.

"Oh god." He scrubs his face with his hands. "Oh god, oh god, oh god." He feels sick to his stomach, has to go sit down.

"Derek?" Stiles says sharply. "Do you, I mean what - "

"I - okay, look." He takes a breath, closing his eyes. "Lately, recently. I've just. Sort of been having feelings for you." His voice trails off into a mumble as he picks at the couch.

"You. Have feelings for me." Stiles says numbly.

Derek grits his teeth. "Yeah, _so_ , you had feelings for me first." He stands defensively.

"Hey, wow, huh." Stiles says. "You know that I - I mean you know about my - I mean you know."

"Scott told me." He says quietly.

"Scott." Stiles states. "Huh. Scott. When did - when did he when did he when did he?"

"While you were in China."

"China."

"Meeting Malia."

"Malia. Oh." Stiles seems to come from his stupor and blinks. "I - Malia. That's - Oh. Okay. I need to lie down." Stiles sits on the edge of the couch and abruptly gets up again. "Or not. I need to walk. I'm walking. Okay, I'm going to stand."

He paces the length of the kitchen before turning and coming to Derek again.

"Okay so you. And now, now what?" His eyes are very large and very bright. "Now you're over me?" His gaze is unwavering.

Derek feels his breath catch. "I don't." He pauses, cautions hope clogging his throat. "I don't know, are you over me?" He whispers, basically confessing himself.

Stiles stares.

The harsh buzz of the door does nothing to break the moment, but Stiles blinks and turns slowly.

"That's. That's Malia." He says dumbly. "Malia! Hi Malia." He rushes to answer, pressing his mouth close.

"Hi honey, I've got a cab waiting."

"I'll be right down!" Stiles says with forced cheerfulness.

"What, so you're just going?" Derek steps forward.

"I - I have to, I can't deal with this right now." He laughs, shaking his head. "I've - I've got a cab, I've - got a girlfriend. I've got to go get a puppy."

Derek looks down at the floor quickly, swallowing against a sea of stinging emotion that surges up in his throat. "Okay."

Stiles stares at him unseeingly. "A puppy." He repeats.

Derek nods, glancing away.

Stiles waits a beat and then leaves.

He closes the door gently, so very gently, because to move too fast makes him feel as if he might fall apart.

*

He doesn't hear from him that day, doesn't see him at all. He's pretty sure he gets the message.

*

Derek is clearing up, wiping down the table tops and letting his shoulders soften and his heart slow, letting the familiar routine calm his frayed nerves that have been overwrought all day.

He turns around. Stiles is standing there. His efforts are shot to ruins.

"I didn't get a puppy."

Derek's breath hitches in choking expectation, anticipation.

"Oh. Well. That's nice." He settles for, his gaze searching.

Stiles erupts into motion. "No, it's not nice! It's not nice Derek! It's very, very not! In fact, it's a hundred percent the opposite of anything nice, it's -"

"Alright, I got it." Derek holds up a hand quietly.

"You had no right to tell me you have feelings for me." Stiles states.

Derek freezes, and looks up, aghast. "What?" He breathes.

"I was doing great with Malia before I found out about you!" He yells.

Derek fluctuates. "Weh, hey, I was doing great before I found out about you!" He yells. "Do you think it's _easy_ for me? To see you with her?"

Stiles huffs, suddenly looking lost and scared. "Well you should have said something, before I met her!"

"I didn't _know_ then." Derek replies. "And why didn't you say anything to me?" He shoots back.

Stiles becomes agitated again, pacing. "There was never a right time." He runs a hand through his hair.

"Oh right, because you only had, what, _years?_ We only hung out _every night?"_ Derek snarks, anger boiling.

"No, not." Stiles stutters. "Not _every_ night." He tries lamely. "And it's not like I didn't try. But things got in the way. You know, like - ex-fiancées, and, and ex-fiancées." He lists on his fingers.

"There was _one_ ex-fiancé, and Kate was years ago Stiles, what is your point?"

"The point is! Is that I don't need this right now, alright? It's too late, I'm happy, that ship has sailed."

"Oh right, so what?" Derek snarls. "You just put away your feelings for me? Whatever the hell it was you felt for me?"

"Hey." Stiles smirks cruelly. "I've been doing it since the third grade, I've gotten _pretty damn_ good at it."

Derek grinds his jaw, throat stinging. "Well, you know what, why don't you go do that." He moves forward and makes to push Stiles out. "You just go do that, alright!" He shouts.

"Fine." Stiles replies flippantly, walking out, hands in the air.

"You just go!" He says louder. "I don't need you and your stupid _ship!"_ He chokes and slams the door.

Stiles is halfway down the street before Derek rushes and pulls it open.

"Hey, and now! Now I've got closure!" He booms.

The door shuts and reverberates as he slams it, and Derek is left standing numbly. He goes to pick up his discarded dish towel, but when he lifts it he thinks about Stiles' uninterested face and him going home to Malia and telling her, 'I just had the worst day', telling him about their situation and Derek - Derek in this coffee house scrubbing tables with grimy hands.

He falls onto the couch armrest and throws the dirty cloth away, wiping his hands on his apron.

His idiocy rushes to him, thinking that Stiles would suddenly drop Malia, beautiful, kind Malia, for him. He grinds his jaw against hot tears, shaking his head harshly. They fall anyway, and he scrubs his face angrily, and presses the heel of his hand into his right eye to stop himself crying.

Derek sniffles, then shakes his hands out, blowing a breath. He inhales and gets up with renewed strength, steeling himself.

He turns around, and Stiles.

Stiles is there.

He's simply standing, with an expression of complete, abject misery, and Derek stops.

He comes closer, and Derek's heart thunders. Stiles swallows and comes up right to him, searching his face, bringing his hands up.

He wipes away slight wetness with the pad of his thumb, and Derek isn't breathing as he swoops in.

His touch is gentle, but after half a second Derek grasps him and pulls him up, kissing his with ferocity. Stiles gasps into his mouth, arms coming to wrap around him, and Derek takes his waist and drags his body against him, almost lifting him up in his eagerness. He feels his heart pound in his chest and Stiles pushes back so much so that they stumble and fall a little into one of the tables.

And then Stiles laughs, and Derek laughs, and they slow, breathing hard, harsh exhales against each other.

"I can't believe - " Stiles lays reverent hands on him.

"Me neither." Derek murmurs.

"I'm an idiot." Stiles says fiercely. "It's you, Derek, it's always been you. I only ever wanted you." His eyes are clear. "I've only ever loved you."

"Malia?" He asks breathlessly, although his hands tighten.

Stiles' expression shutters down painfully. "I'll have to talk to her - "

Derek pulls away, reluctant.

Immediately, he misses the warmth, he misses him stupidly much, but they have to do this right. "Go. I'll wait."

"Are you sure?" Stiles suddenly asks. "Are you sure about this, because you have to be _sure,_ Derek, I don't think I could take - "

Derek takes Stiles' face in both hands, presses their foreheads together, kisses him softly. "Yes. I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I love you."

"Okay." Stiles laughs, giddy. "Okay."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, any feedback is welcome!!
> 
> kochanie - sweetheart/love (term of endearment) polish
> 
> I'm also Peasantaries on [Tumblr](https://peasantaries.tumblr.com/), [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/peasantaries), and [ Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/peasantaries/)! Come over and talk to me! I'll never bite <33


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